Michael Fremer

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Brinkmann Audio Bardo turntable
Turntable Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  May 19, 2011  |  2 comments
I won't debate here how to make a turntable's platter go around. Choose your favorite: belt vs direct drive, idler wheel vs belt, spring-windup vs wind power, whatever. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to debate. Each of these technologies has its pluses and minuses, but none can produce CD's accuracy of speed and inherent freedom from wow and flutter.
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Brinkmann Audio Nyquist D/A processor
Audacious AudioDigital Processor Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 25, 2017  |  9 comments
What? Johnny-come-lately turntable manufacturer Brinkmann Audio now makes a DAC? Are they desperate? What sampling rates does it support—162/3, 331/3, 45, and 78? I guess the vinyl resurgence is over! Why else would Brinkmann make a DAC?

If that's what you're thinking, consider that Helmut Brinkmann began designing, manufacturing, and marketing electronics well before he made the first of the turntables for which his company is best known in the US.

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Brinkmann Balance turntable
Audacious AudioTurntable Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  May 18, 2012  |  First Published: May 18, 2005  |  4 comments
Everyone's got their prejudices, and mine are against turntables with box-like plinths and big slabs of undamped acrylic. I have no problem with either in models that cost a few grand or less, but once you get into high-priced terrain, less plinth and less acrylic usually yields better performance. Generally, though, all a plinth gets you is a vibrating surface to transmit or store and release energy. Who needs that? If your high-performance 'table has a plinth, you need to heroically damp it the way SME does in its Model 30, and the way Rockport did in its System III Sirius.
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Brinkmann Pi phono cartridge
Phono Cartridge Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  May 24, 2011  |  0 comments
The Brinkmann Pi cartridge's Benz-Micro heritage was obvious from the get-go. The motor is built to Brinkmann's specifications by Benz-Micro and includes a Micro-Ridge stylus. The cantilever material is not specified. The Pi's output is approximately 0.25mV, and its compliance is moderate at 15µm/mN. Recommended are a tracking force of 1.8–2gm, a VTA of 23°, and a resistive load of 600 ohms.

Helmut Brinkmann says he tweaked the Pi's design for a year and a half before he achieved the results he desired, including making the tiny set screws out of various materials. The Pi, with a body of machined aluminum designed to control the dissipation of resonant energy, weighs a hefty 14gm. Brinkmann supplies aluminum screws and titanium washers, which, he claims, in combination with special damping between the cartridge body and headshell, have been "sonically tuned to create a unique musical instrument."

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Bryston 7B SST2 monoblock power amplifier
Solid State Power Amp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 27, 2010  |  0 comments
Hang around long enough, and your reward is often to be taken for granted or ignored. Canadian electronics manufacturer Bryston Ltd. has been around since the mid-1970s, and while—if coverage by Stereophile is any indication—the company has hardly been ignored, it's often taken for granted.
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Cabasse Artis Baltic II & Thor II loudspeaker system
Floor Loudspeaker Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 25, 2005  |  0 comments
A proper speaker installation can take a full day and sometimes part of a second, even in a familiar room. But by the time the sun sets on Day One, the system should be almost there—wherever there is.
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Cabasse La Sphère powered loudspeaker
Stand Loudspeaker ReviewsAudacious Audio
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 20, 2008  |  0 comments
In an unfortunate coincidence, a few nights before the Cabasse team arrived to install the company's unusual-looking La Sphère powered speaker system, VOOM HD Networks, Monster HD channel, which is exclusively devoted to B horror movies, broadcast The Crawling Eye (aka The Trollenberg Terror), a 1958 black-and-white howler starring Forrest Tucker. I watched.
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Cary Audio Design Classic CD 303T Professional SACD player
Hi-Rez Disc Player/Transport Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 27, 2010  |  0 comments
Despite predictions to the contrary, the Compact Disc isn't dying anytime soon. Too many are in circulation, and until a smooth, friendly skin covers the computer interface, the music-server revolution will remain nascent. We're still in a long, shaky period of transition.
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CH Precision M1.1 power amplifier
Audacious AudioSolid State Power Amp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 25, 2019  |  42 comments
CH Precision's massive, versatile, technologically sophisticated, 165 lb M1.1 power amplifier ($54,000 configured for stereo) can easily crush your foot if you're not careful when installing it. But the more important consideration is this: Can this cool gray techno-square sing and dance without stepping on its own feet?
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Channel D Lino C 3.3 phono preamplifier
Phono Preamp Reviews
Michael Fremer  |  May 26, 2022  |  4 comments
Years ago, at a San Francisco Audiophile Society gathering, I was lucky enough to spend time with the late, brilliant electrical engineer Roger Modjeski, whose Music Reference RM-200 Mk.II hybrid stereo tube amp is among my most prized hi-fi treasures. I asked him what he knew about transimpedance phono preamplifiers. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and drew a detailed transimpedance phono preamp circuit, quipping, "These have been around forever, but until recently no one has paid much attention to them."
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